The Liberal Party of Canada is promising a number of health-care reforms in its election platform, including a national pharmacare program and improved access to mental-health services. According to a backgrounder document, the Liberals are aiming to “strengthen the Canada Health Act to make sure the full range of mental-health services required by Canadians are available in every […]
Pacific Blue Cross and Blue Cross Life Insurance Co. of Canada are forming an alliance in British Columbia, effective Jan. 2, 2020. The alliance is aimed at enhancing Pacific Blue Cross’ capabilities in underwriting, pricing, reserving, actuarial and medical underwriting, according to a press release. It will remain the primary contact for all sales, services […]
Manulife Financial Corp. is rolling out its Vitality health and wellness app to all its group benefits plan members after initially launching it with its own employees. The Vitality program, which connects with wearable devices, including smartwatches, fitness bracelets and smartphones, is designed to encourage users to make healthy choices and rewards them with gift […]
Sun Life is launching Equinoxe LifeCare’s virtual medical evaluation services to help plan sponsors with disability management. The service allows plan members and their dependants to connect with virtual health-care services and licensed health-care practitioners. It also enables them to consult with medical professionals through secure video or chat via smartphone, tablet or computer. In addition, the service allows plan members to requisition […]
Mercer is appoints Dr. Andrew Halpert as clinical innovation leader for health in the U.S. and Canada. In the role, Halpert will be responsible for leading Mercer’s clinical consulting offerings and health strategy development. With 30 years of experience in the industry, he was previously the senior director for clinical and network solutions at Collective Health and […]
When an employee with diabetes is working in a safety-sensitive role experiences severely low blood sugar, what are the ramifications for employers? This question was addressed at Benefits Canada’s 2019 Chronic Disease at Work conference in Toronto in June. “For you, as an employer, what if this was your employee on their way to meet […]
Looking at South Korea today, it’s hard to believe the country was one of the world’s poorest just a few decades ago. But since the 1960s, its economy has been growing quickly. “In fact, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, it had one of the highest growth rates in the world, and at times in […]
Digital benefits platform League Inc. is partnering with the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence to improve the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning in health care. Through the partnership, League will work with the Vector Institute on using AI, machine learning and other predictive techniques to create personalized health recommendations and plans tailored for […]
As plan sponsors continue to look for ways to control drug plan spending, a new study from the University of British Columbia shows that switching from an open to a closed formulary can save big dollars. The study, published this month in the Canadian Medical Association Journal Open, analyzed what happened when the B.C. Hospital […]
Plan sponsors can expect to see a three to five per cent increase in prescription drug claims in 2019, according to Buck’s annual Canadian health-care trend survey. However, the survey noted, since insurance providers also add a market inflation factor, the projected increase is actually 10.99 per cent, down from 12.45 per cent in 2018. Based […]